Thread

1. nickcw · 1790073062 · focus · HN ↗

   I know pi to 50 places learned through lots of repetition. I've always been good at remembering numbers though.

   I don't find the memory palace tricks helpful at all though. I think that is a consequence of my Aphantasia and something I only realised recently. I can't visualise a memory palace so placing things in it is impossible!

   1. dgellow · 1790076999 · focus · HN ↗

      I’m on the complete opposite part of the spectrum from aphantasia, but also don’t find the memory palace concept useful. Actually, I find any trick to memorize things to be a detriment to actually remembering things effectively! I still have to go through the whole alphabet song, instead of having the order internalized :)

      On the other hand I learned 15 decimals of pi as a kid through pure rot training and feel they are way more internalized

   2. abecedarius · 1790089130 · focus · HN ↗

      Is there "benchmark data" on different memory techniques? I also wondered about this because I also memorized 50 digits on a lark back in high school, without the post's encoding technique and memory palace.

      I added one block of 10 digits per night, spending maybe 10 minutes per night? Very roughly an hour total, ~same as the poster spent to get 100 digits, but without the prior investment they spent on the PAO (memorizing 300 key-value pairs, apparently).

      You'd want to compare to Anki, too.

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